Tea rooms, meals and utensils each have a place in a tea gathering.
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A chashitsu is a space arranged for a host and guests to meet over tea. Tatami, an alcove, entrances and water-heating equipment organise their actions. It may be one room or a tea building with supporting spaces.
A roji is the garden through which guests approach a tea room. Its paths, waiting places, gates and water basins guide where they walk, wait and wash.
A Japanese term for a tea bowl or, in everyday speech, a rice bowl. In chanoyu it names the vessel used to prepare and drink matcha, also an object of appreciation and collecting.
A chashaku transfers powdered tea from its container to the tea bowl. A common form is a narrow strip of bamboo with a bent scooping tip. Its node, carving, storage tube and inscriptions can also preserve the work and relationships of tea practitioners.
Raku is a ceramic tradition closely associated with Kyoto’s Raku family and tea practice. Chōjirō is central to its early history. Forming, trimming, glazing and firing explain more than colour alone.
Wagashi are Japanese sweets made in many forms, from rice dumplings and filled buns to yokan blocks and crisp monaka shells with sweet fillings. Elaborately shaped bean-paste sweets are one part of this wider range.
Sukiya-zukuri describes an architectural approach associated with tea culture. Natural-looking timbers, carefully chosen details and flexible arrangements temper the formality of shoin architecture, a style associated with formal reception rooms. Its settings extend from tea rooms to residences and villas.
A bowl could acquire distinction without acquiring gold. But someone had to make its qualities recognizable—and give other people reasons to remember them.
Sen no Rikyū was the most influential tea practitioner of Japan's sixteenth century. Born in the commercial port of Sakai in 1522, he was first known as Yoshirō and later by the Buddhist name Sōeki.
Buried storehouses, a travelling tea jar, and a letter about tomorrow's guest reveal how a merchant city's possessions became carefully arranged encounters.
